Review of LNT131: Pantomime: Chamber Music of Peter Child
American Record Guide September
The texts of Peter Child’s Songs of Bidpal are from Libyan poet Muhammad al-Faituri and are something of hybrid of western modernism and an Islamic aesthetic. This is in a way appropriate; these songs were written with the attacks on the World Trade Center in mind. They are extroverted and rhythmically very inventive, and performed expertly by Olivia Robinson. Pantomime: Seven Lyric Scenes for Oboe Quartet is a playful work, exciting and exuberant. The Viola Sonata is a well written dialog between the viola and the piano, changeable in mood and rich in ideas.
In almost direct opposition to the opening song cycle, the program closes with Child’s Rilke Songs — a set of seven introverted and beautiful songs for mezzo-soprano and ensemble on short poems by Rilke.